Remembering Frontier Village has gathered at its old site, now Edenvale Park, to reminisce about the amusement park with a summer picnic the past seven years. This year’s picnic is this Saturday, June 28 beginning at 11:00 am.

There will be booths set up with various memorabilia, past employees will be on hand to reminisce, the Frontier Village gun fighters re-enact their old gun fighting show, a guided tour of the park pointing out where all the old attractions once stood, along with other activities.

Scheduled for this year’s picnic are four of the original Antique Autos; one of them will be available for free rides.

There are plenty of tables, chairs, and barbeque grills.

Remembering Frontier Village Picnic
Edenvale Park
200 Edenvale Avenue, San Jose

Saturday, June 28
Beginning 11:00 am

Admission: Free
Parking: Free

For more information check here.

Sorry Mercury News but it’s time to turn you loose. Your content has been suffering and it seems as if your bill shows up in my mail almost as fast as a little red Netflix mailer. Now you have the nerve to want $8.00 more. You need $28.00 for the seven day subscription? I can’t go on. It’s over.

But then with this mornings Gmail, you try to tempt me back. For only $39.00, if I act fast enough, I can sign up for 26-Edition weeks of the Mercury News in digital form. OK, I might give you one more chance.

The Quick Tour

Anybody else make it out to Fanime 2008 at the San Jose Convention Center? If you drove through downtown San Jose last weekend, you might have noticed something a little different. Cosplayers and Anime fans swarmed the convention center and rocked throughout the entire weekend.

Several highlights this weekend:

1) A small incident involving several Christians who decided to picket the convention much to the attendees’ amusement.
2) Jesus, himself, made an appearance at the midnight showing of hentai holding a sign asking for “confessions”
3) Several fangirls couldn’t get enough of AnCafe (the music fest feature performance on Sunday night), and ended up stalking them back to their hotel room.
4) $30 for a Bowser plushie
5) Spending $100 in the Artist Alley before even walking into the Dealer’s Room.
6) Peter Griffin Vs. Chicken
7) Random choreographed dancing

Did I forget anything?

For those in the valley who do not have the luxury of air-conditioning, relief may be as simple as an afternoon at the movies or a mall.

For others it may be more relaxing or practical to spend the day at a local community cooling center.

Keeping cool is critical for the elderly, infants and young children. At risk are people who are physically or mentally ill; especially those with heart disease or high blood pressure.

Cooling Centers: Open until 9:00PM

Wednesday through Friday — May 14-16

Note: A bag lunch or dinner from home may be required.

Cooling Centers

Richard Hassett with his dad Larry Hassett

When traveling north on Interstate 5, people often take Highway 45 into the little town of Colusa to play at the casino. Me? I detour there to shop at the Ace Hardware store. Yes, I do have a thing for hardware.

Today I paid a visit to a new hardware store closer to home. I loved it the moment I walked in. A rack of sun hats to the left, keys hanging to the right and garden tools straight ahead - lovely. I give Larry Hassett and his sons credit for starting up a new ’small’ business in this new age of big-box chains. The Ace at the corner of Lincoln and Curtner will be so handy.

Mr. Hassett is very happy with the number of neighbors who have come to visit his Willow Glen store. When I asked what products were selling the best, he mentioned garden supplies and that he was pleased with the popularity of the Weber Barbecue Grills. It should smell good in ‘The Glen’ this summer!!!

The Grand Opening is a Big 3-Day Event
May 16, 17, and 18
Doors Open 8am

Free Refreshments - and more.
Spin-to-Win
Grand Prize Drawings

Saturday 9am Ribbon Cutting - San Jose City Council member Mr. Oliverio

2253 Lincoln Ave
San Jose, Ca 95125
(Willow Glen)
408 - 267 - 0223

The Hassett family is not new to the hardware business. Together they have years of experience and the product knowledge to resolve a variety of household problems. They tell their story here.

The June edition of Bicycle Magazine identified San Jose as the 3rd runner-up for the Most Improved city for riding your bike. They stated that the weather and 200+ miles of bike routes and trails makes San Jose bike friendly. To add to the compliments, the author mentioned that if San Jose were on the East Coast, not competing with the likes of San Francisco, it could be considered a cycling mecca!

I can attest that most of San Jose is bike friendly. Riding 100+ miles a week, many areas of San Jose are a dream. However, there are still many areas that are less than desirable, mostly due to the deterioration of the bike routes, the roads, or simply the lack of a “safe space” for cyclists, particularly on overpasses and freeway entrances/exits.

Quite frankly, the article was a pleasant surprise! Hopefully our city government moves us from 3rd runner of of Most Improved to either the top 3, or runner up for best place to cycle!

Over the past few weeks, I’ve noticed a substantial change in San Jose traffic patterns. While the rush hour is still, well, not rushed, traffic outside of the normal commute seems to be changing. There are fewer people driving.

I noticed this on my way to the Silicon Valley Flickr meet at Coffee Society in Campbell just this past Monday. I was struck at how few cars there were in the early evening. My somewhat monthly tradition of meeting up with my fellow photo-taking aficionados has always seen a fair amount of freeway traffic. However, the drive on Monday felt an awful like the traffic on San Jose freeways in the late 70’s and early 80’s… not a whole lot of cars out there. I also couldn’t help but notice the same after having dinner at Oakridge earlier today — 85 felt more like a country highway than a major city freeway.

The pain in higher fuel costs in combination with an increase in the cost of living are causing people to change their behavior. In a city that thrives on driving, and my recollections of economics, this is a really, really bad sign.

I hope this doesn’t go on for too long…

A Breath of Plein Air is a current exhibit presented by History San José at the Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House featuring plein air paintings, painting in the open air.

The exhibit features 54 pieces by 25 local artists illustrating scenes of San José, Santa Clara or Silicon Valley.

From the History San José web site:

The art of plein air painting, a French word meaning “in the open air,” became popular in the mid-1800’s, with the invention of paints in tubes. Prior to that paint was made by hand and easels were less portable. As the popularity of natural lighting in painting increased, the French impressionists, and later the Russian and American impressionists, have set the stage as the outdoor style continues to be attractive. This is particularly the case in Santa Clara Valley, where the fair weather is often favorable.

Artists who’d like to paint outdoors are invited to attend Plein Air Days at History San José, on Sundays, May 4, June 15, July 20 and August 17.

The Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House opened in 2005, completely restored and transformed into an exhibition space.

History San José is a 14-acre park featuring a town atmosphere, with free rides on historic trolleys, exhibit galleries and 27 historic buildings.

A Breath of Plein Air
The Leonard and David McKay Gallery at the Pasetta House
History San José
1650 Senter Road

Friday – Sunday; through September 21
12:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Admission: Free
Parking $6.00

Nothing to do Tuesday 10:00 am to 2:00 pm? Yeah, right. Well, it is Earth Day and San Jose is celebrating Earth Day at City Hall Plaza with shopping, entertainment, and exhibits.

For shopping there’s a preview of the San José Downtown Farmers’ Market. Entertainment includes Lincoln High School Mariachi Band, Nguyen Dance Company (Traditional Vietnamese and Cambodian Dance), Mumlers (Indie Rock), Movimiento Cosmico (Aztec Dancers), and Celtic Soul (Irish Folk Band). Exhibits will include recycling, composting, alternative transportation, water conservation, and energy efficiency, among other topics.

There is also a downtown walking tour, reservations required. Check here for more info.

For event and entertainment schedules check here.

City Hall Plaza
Tuesday, April 22
10:00 am – 2:00 pm

Admission: Free

Inadvertently contributing to the celebration of National Library Week, as noted by my fellow Metblogs San Jose cohort, Gary Wiens, I figured now would be a good time to share the status of the demolition of Santa Teresa Branch of the San Jose Public Library.

In 1984, I was 12 years old, and clearly remember the opening of the Santa Teresa library–a bright, shiny facility located on International Circle, by the Kaiser Santa Teresa Hospital. Covering nearly 14,000 sq ft., it was the haven for working on many school projects. It was a surprise for me to see the library being torn down, before I had a chance to dig up some facts about the demolition.

The $13.6 million dollar Santa Teresa Library reconstruction project began with the its closing in late 2007, with demolition beginning in March of this year. The expected opening date for the new facility is June of 2009. The Branch Library Bond Measure, of which Santa Teresa is the 15th project, was approved by voters in 2000, which provides $212 million dollars over 10 years for new and upgraded libraries in San Jose. This new library is designed by STUDIOS Architecture in San Francisco, and is managed by BRCO Constructors of Loomis, CA.

Notable changes to the new library which, will be built on the same spot on International Circle, include an increase of computers from 13 to 33-40; seating increased from 48 to 122-156; group study and storytelling areas (previously lacking in the old library) ranging from 20-39 seats; and an increase in parking of roughly 20 more spaces. source: SJLibrary.org

More pictures of the demolition (click to zoom):

images: Eric Rice, Microsoft Virtual Earth, Google Maps, STUDIOS Architecture